Strengths: Low rolling resistance, great on hardpack, great lateral traction.

Weaknesses: Low mud shed ability due to u-shaped knobs.

Bottom Line:

I purchased these from mailorder 2 years ago. I got the 2.5 width in umma gumma gray material. They are great for hard pack and dry trails. the 2.5 width gives nice comfortable ride. Lateral traction is great because the knobs are going in all directions. Wet or muddy forget it. they hold mud like a sheep dog. Low rolling resistance also. The tire does turn sort of hard after time. I only paid $9.00 for them so an excellent value.

-It slips like a madman on roots and rocks. This means it's a terrible tire for climbing, unless you ride in a dry place.-poor grip in wet conditions, and poor grip for cornering.-It wasn't cheap! $30 canadian for a wire bead tire, that is crap.-the damn side knobs will rip off. I used this tire for less than 1 season, with only about 20% of its life used up. Then this knob totally rips off, along with many other knobs coming close to ripping off. Now the tire is complete junk, and it cant be warrantied.I went from this tire to a Bontrager Jones 49/51 (or whatever, around 2.1/2.2) in the rear. The Jones is so much better at climbing its amazing, I wouldn't even think of using the more extreme ire again.

I ran one of these on the rear of my bike for the better part of a season. It gripped very well and was a good climbing tire in most any conditions, but it didn't last very long. The lugs began peeling off the tire. I wouldn't buy another one for this reason.

Overall Rating:

Submitted by
steve
a weekend warrior
from Toronto, Canada

Date Reviewed: August 17, 1998

Bottom Line:

These are probably the worst tires I have ever ridden on. Complete loss of traction in the corners, especially on loose sand or gravel, and I really like the way Specialized made the sidewalls out of some self-destructing material. My rear tire finally blew out this week-end while jumping a sidewalk and I went out and bought a real tire: an Onze RIP. I'm only hoping the front tire, which also looks like it's going to blow REAL soon, will go so I can get new tires all around.

Overall Rating:

Submitted by
Marco T.
a weekend warrior
from San Antonio, TX

Date Reviewed: August 14, 1998

Bottom Line:

Would not recommend them, everything was fine except the dam sidewall ripped to sheds and my tube was sticking out. They came with Trek bike when I bought it. Thank goodness I did not buy these things they suck. I recommend Acadamy for $7 the tire kicks ass. RIDE HARD!!!!!!!!! KLEIN BIKES RULE.

Overall Rating:

Submitted by
wellmo
a cross-country rider
from Langley, Wa.

Date Reviewed: November 28, 1997

Bottom Line:

This is actually a review for the Specialized MOST Extreme. This rear tire kicks ass!! It brakes solidly and predictibly, and it is almost impossible to spinout going uphill. There is one minor drawback though...when it's slick out, the rear tends to slide out from underneath me. All the knobs are situated for forward motion and braking. There is NOTHING for cornering. It does ride well with a little practice, and quick reflexes!! 5 points for stop and go, 3 points for sliding through bends.

Overall Rating:

Submitted by
dirthead
a weekend warrior
from chatttn

Date Reviewed: August 31, 1997

Bottom Line:

If you ride technical loamy to sandy hills turn this tire around backwards and put it on the front!SWEET! I'm talking about real time brakes, not like the ole Darts.

Overall Rating:

Submitted by
Havoc
from California

Date Reviewed: May 22, 1997

Bottom Line:

Looking at the tread design, I pretty much assumed that this is a rearwheel only tire. Thus, my opinions are only from a drive tire standpoint.I bought this tire for climbing and mud riding. For these purposes, the tire score 5 chilis. While climbing, this tire grips where no other can.The paddles hook up unrelently. In fact, you will run out of strengthto pedal before these slip out. For the mud, the open spaced lugs and wide footprint make for a tire that floats over the muck and clears quite well when bogged.As I said though, this tire was purchased for climbing and mud. Anywhereelse, they are average to shitty. For level terrain, they are no betterthan others except that they sprint fairly well. But for downhill, youwill die in the turns. DO NOT GET THESE IF YOU RIDE A LOT OF DOWNHILLS.While they exhibit exceptional braking characteristics and are large enough to reduce the risk of pinch flatting, they absolutely will notbite in a high speed corner. If you look at the pic, you'll see thereare almost no lugs near the sidewall. When you corner hard, you'll hitpart of the side that has no tread and all of a sudden your rear wheelwill disappear. Average this quirk with the stellar climbing and I stillsay this is a good tire.

Overall Rating:

Submitted by
JR Fisher
a cross-country rider
from Blacksburg, VA

Date Reviewed: April 12, 1997

Bottom Line:

I've had the kevlar S version on my bike for four years. The tire is starting to get a little worn, but his thing sticks in everything. It rules.

Overall Rating:

Submitted by
Dave
a cross-country rider
from York, UK

Date Reviewed: March 18, 1997

Bottom Line:

Keep off the roads on it, use it in winter for gloopy stuff and it works pretty good. Swap it out for summer.More extreme RIP.

Overall Rating:

Submitted by
Alvin Fu
a weekend warrior
from Northboro MA

Date Reviewed: March 8, 1997

Bottom Line:

These tires were awsome at first, then they blew!!!! The whole entire sidewall, ripped apart, causing the bead to come out, popping my tube while I was on a long ride. It was then, a long walk.

Overall Rating:

Submitted by
Chris Barron
a racer
from Madison, WI

Date Reviewed: November 27, 1996

Bottom Line:

This is the best rear tire I have ever used! The traction is incredible. The only problem I ever had was that my rims cut into the side-walls of the tire, probably from riding on too low of air pressure. Its also a bit heavy, but weight isn't everything.

Overall Rating:

Submitted by
Mauricio
a cross-country rider
from Monterrey, Mexico

Date Reviewed: November 26, 1996

Bottom Line:

What a piece of shit!!!!. I bought a pair about a year ago, and after I rode them three times, they shreded. They were very slow on hard roads, the traction was bad on soft roads. And worst of all I didn't get my money back!!! Conclusion: I will never buy another Specialized tire. After I dropped them in trash, I bought a pair of IRC (Geo Claw) tires. What a difference!! They worth the extra bucks!

Arguably the worst tire made by Specialized when used in super hard-packed fires roads typical in the desert and mountains near Albuquerque. The single row of very large outside tread blocks perfectly lined up at, say, 65 degrees from the line of rotation (35 degrees from flat ground) would serve to form the perfect slick once you banked over to turn into a long, wide sweeping fire-road turn. Ooopppsss, down I'd go every time. Look at the illustration above. Once banked at that angle, there effectively was no longer any lugs, just a solid, smoother hard rubber bead. Sold mine at tremendous discount within a day or two. Excellent, though heavy, straight line climber in these same conditions.